ASUS Z87I-Deluxe Mini-ITX Intel Motherboard Review

Full Disclosure: ASUS provided the product sample used in this article.

It seems full-sized ATX systems are becoming less relevant every day. Increasing GPU horsepower diminishes the need for expensive multi-GPU setups; onboard sound has become good enough for all but serious audiophiles, and inexpensive 8GB DIMMs mean that two DIMM slots is plenty. The ASUS Z87I-Deluxe LGA1150 mini-ITX motherboard is the latest in ASUS’ new line of enthusiast mini-ITX motherboards. If you haven’t considered a mini-ITX build, maybe it’s time you should.

But, you say, aren’t mini-ITX systems only good for building small servers, NAS systems, and HTPCs? Not any more. ASUS likes to push the boundaries, and enthusiasts still want high end motherboards with overclocking potential, even if the motherboards in question are tiny. Last year’s P8Z77-i Deluxe was their first foray into the field, and the new Z87I-Deluxe is the same philosophy, but built around the latest Haswell CPUs and Z87 chipset.

The Z87I-Deluxe is a member of ASUS’ mainstream motherboard line and shares the line’s new black and gold coloring. It continues the innovative vertical power regulator design introduced with the P8Z77-I Deluxe, but several other design features have changed. Let’s get started with a closer look at this new motherboard.